Janteloven (Law of Jante)

Janteloven is a list of 10 rules that considerably govern how Scandinavians should think about one another. Janteloven translated into English means “The Law of Jante”. Jantelov idea was created in 1933 by a Norwegian-born Danish author by the name of Aksel Sandemose via his book ‘En Flytning Krysser Sitt Spor’ (A fugitive crosses his tracks).

Translation of Janteloven in English :

You’re not to think you are anything special.

You’re not to think you are as good as us.

You’re not to think you are smarter than us.

You’re not to convince yourself that you are better than us.

You’re not to think you know more than us.

You’re not to think you are more important than us.

You’re not to think you are good at anything.

You’re not to laugh at us.

You’re not to think anyone cares about you.

You’re not to think you can teach us anything.

Personally, I found these rules are awesome and totally match with my point of view about self-pride. If I look and ponder these rules, I found some gems behind them. These rules refrain someone from “judging a book by its cover,” as the rules encourage assuming that he/she is no better than the person he/she is meeting. These rules also make individual success and achievement are unworthy and inappropriate to show to society. Just giving your best on something and no need to “advertise” it because there is nothing special on it, even the result looks great. Always keep in mind that It just something that have to do, which is providing best effort in every tasks. Finally, these rules teach how to achieve true happiness. We must first look to ourselves to find happiness before comparing to outside factors such as co-workers or salary.